It's a Great Day for Older Adults!

Queens Library's Older Adult Services Program is proud to present our third annual Older Adults Day, which will feature FREE health screenings, live entertainment, and information on healthcare, benefits, and other important topics specifically for adults age 50 and older.

Location: Fresh Meadows Registration: Registration is not yet open for this program. Please check back closer to the program date.

In six simple, step-by-step sessions, with enjoyable activities, **Donna Miller-Small** will teach you the skills for beginning / intermediate play, so that you can share in the fun, excitement and camaraderie with others.

Beginners and experienced players are both welcome. Pre registration is required. Contact the Fresh Meadows Library to register 718-454-7272

Additional Program Dates/Locations

This is a recurring program. If registration is required, you must register individually.

Join the Job and Business Academy at Fresh Meadows Library as we bring Entrepreneurship Workshops to you!

Starting your own company may be the best thing you ever do.
But before you open, you will need to spend countless hours trying to figure out next steps. Save yourself the time by learning all the things you will need to before starting up.

Join the Job and Business Academy at Fresh Meadows Library as we bring Entrepreneurship Workshops to you!

Starting your own company may be the best thing you ever do.
But before you open, you will need to spend countless hours trying to figure out next steps. Save yourself the time by learning all the things you will need to before starting up.

Over two million New Yorkers are eligible for SNAP benefits. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food. Stop by the library for a SNAP eligibility screening. If you meet the requirements, get help filling out the application.

Additional Program Dates/Locations

This is a recurring program. If registration is required, you must register individually.

A series of three art projects. 1) Pearl necklace and earring set done on needlework canvas as a base which is then embellished in jewels; 2) Cuff adjustable bracelet; 3) Jewelry trinket box embellished with trimming. Registration is required. 718-454-7272

Additional Program Dates/Locations

This is a recurring program. If registration is required, you must register individually.

Do you have questions about getting into specialized high schools? During this panel current specialized high school students will talk about their experiences and a representative from Princeton Review will give tips about the application process.

A special workshop to share migration stories creatively. Different generations will partner to tell the story of their family’s journey. Partners do not have to be from the same family. This 6 session workshop will lead partners through storytelling, electronics and textile art making. The result will be a talking story quilt which will be displayed. Participants will take home a variety of new skills along with the artwork they create. Call the Fresh Meadows Library to register 718-454-7272

Additional Program Dates/Locations

This is a recurring program. If registration is required, you must register individually.

What have you been reading lately? Looking for your next read? Meet up with other teens to share your thoughts on what you’ve read and hear from others. Maybe you’ll find your new favorite book! Please come prepared to talk about a book you’ve read recently (even if you didn’t like it!).

Gill Lopez leads this workshop where participants will learn about milk cultures and how to use them to create tasty, healthy yogurt treats easily and inexpensively at home. Participants can take home starter yogurt culture that can be used to make your first batch.

In the award-winning film "Soul on a String," in Tibetan with English subtitles, directed by Yang Zhang, a Tibetan cowboy strives to return a sacred stone to the holy Mountain of Buddha's Handprint while pursued by black market traders and two brothers bent on vengeance.

Make a tote bag out of an old t-shirt to carry books, candy, toilet paper, or whatever you want! **Please bring an old t-shirt to turn into a tote bag. Bigger shirt = bigger bag. A limited number of UNCOOL t-shirts will be available if you forget.**

Caring for plants in your home or office can be fun and rewarding. Join us as we discuss which plants are best to use for your interior environments, how to care for them and the many benefits of interior foliage.

Over 2 million New Yorkers are eligible for SNAP benefits. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food. Stop by the library for a SNAP eligibility screening. If you meet the requirements, get help filling out an application.

Additional Program Dates/Locations

This is a recurring program. If registration is required, you must register individually.

This 3-session series covers art from Egyptian times through the 19th Century and explores the relationship between still life, landscape, and photography. Registration required, call the Fresh Meadows Library @ 718-454-7272

Additional Program Dates/Locations

This is a recurring program. If registration is required, you must register individually.

In the award-winning film,"Apprentice," in English/Malay with English subtitles, directed by Boo Junfeng , Aiman, a 28-year-old Malay correctional officer, has been transferred to the territory's top prison. Rahim, the chief executioner, has noticed the principled and diligent Aiman and when he needs a new apprentice, Rahmin offers Aiman the job.

In the award-winning film,"Glory," in Bulgarian with English subtitles, directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, a railroad worker gets caught in bureaucratic chaos when he finds millions of leva on the tracks and turns the money over to the police.

"Music critics have described I-Heung Lee's performance as graceful, thoughtful and intelligent, touched with a unique style of artistic sophistication. Ms. Lee performs extensively in Asia as well as at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York. Her repertoire includes works by Mozart, Franz Liszt, Maurice Ravel and Frederic Chopin."

History

For over 200 years, from the 1700s through the 1900s, the Fresh Meadows area was known as “Black Stump”, allegedly because its various large farms were separated for identification purposes by rows of black stumps. In Colonial times only two roads crossed the area: Black Stump Road which is now 73rd Avenue, and Fresh Meadows Lane which was named for the fresh water meadows through which it ran. At the juncture of the two roads was the heart of “Black Stump”. The British Army of occupation as well as Benedict Arnold walked these roads and were housed on the farms during the American Revolution. Colonial references to the area are few; however it is known that there was a tavern named Ryerson’s Inn, located roughly on the south-west corner of 74th Avenue and Utopia Parkway. In November of 1933, the colonial building that had been Ryerson’s Inn was demolished by its current owners: the Klein Family.

Dating back to the 1800s, the Black Stump School, old District #4 of Flushing Town, was located in the area which is now a small park at Utopia Parkway and 73rd Avenue. The Black Stump School was a one-room wood frame country schoolhouse, but it educated many children in the area. During the winter only 10-15 attended, but summer enrollment reached as many as 50 children. After the school was abandoned it became the headquarters of Black Stump Hook, Ladder and Bucket Co. #1 which fought farm fires in the area until 1913.

Throughout the 19th century, 75th Avenue was the only east-west road running between Utopia Parkway and Parsons Blvd. It was known by two names: “Quarrelsome Lane” and “Hellfire Lane”. Unfortunately the origins of these names have since been forgotten.

About 1923, a Brooklyn sportsman, Benjamin C. Ribman, opened the Fresh Meadows Country Club. The 141-acre country club hosted US Golf Opens and operated until 1946 when it was sold to The New York Life Insurance Company. The company created the Fresh Meadows Housing Development, a post World War II project and model community to for returning WWII soldiers and their families. The development consisted of row houses and high-rise buildings, a shopping center, a theater, a public library and schools. Opened in 1949, the Fresh Meadows Housing Development was at the time hailed by community planner Lewis Mumford as “perhaps the most positive and exhilarating example of large-scale community planning in the country”.

The Fresh Meadows Housing Development still stands and most of the area has been designated a Special Planned Community Preservation District by New York City. This designation protects the unique character of well-planned communities. These communities characteristically have large landscaped open spaces and a superior relationship of buildings, open spaces, commercial uses, and pedestrian and vehicular circulation.

In November, 2003, Fresh Meadows lost its final link to its early farmland history. The Klein Farm, dating back to 1895 and the last of the working farms in the Fresh Meadows area, was sold to real estate developers. It had been one of the remaining four farms left in New York City, three of which are still located in Queens.

On November 1st 1949 the first Fresh Meadows Library opened to the public. Its storefront quarters were provided by The New York Life Insurance Company within the Fresh Meadows Housing Development.

On September 23rd, 1958 the first Queens Borough Library built by the Fresh Meadows Housing Development was opened for service.

In August of 1997, the library was relocated to a temporary store front area while the library underwent a 600 sq. ft expansion as well as interior renovations.

In May of 1998 the temporary library space was closed and the materials were relocated to the new Fresh Meadows library.

On May 3rd 2000, the formal reopening ceremony was held at the newly renovated and expanded building. Among the scheduled speakers were Borough President Claire Schulman, City Councilman Sheldon S. Leffler, Library Director Gary E. Strong, and Queens Library Board of Trustees President Patricia Flynn.

Parking Info

Limited parking space is available in front of the library. There are limited metered street parking along Horace Harding Expressway service road. You may also find parking on nearby residential streets.